Another 569 people have died after contracting coronavirus, taking the UK death toll to 2,921.

Today’s jump in deaths is the biggest daily increase since the outbreak began, following another massive rise of 563 deaths yesterday.

It comes as more than 70 health workers have reportedly been diagnosed with coronavirus at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

University College London professor Anthony Costello said he had received an internal email saying 73 staff members out of 181 at the London hospital had tested positive.

It also said that 318 workers are isolating at home because they, or someone in their household, is showing symptoms.

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He tweeted: ‘An informant tells me “social distancing in the hospital is a fiction. Whatever the inadequacies of PPE for patient contact my concern is about the use of masks in non-clinical hospital areas. Many team members do handovers in a small office space without the use of masks”.’

Meanwhile, nearly a million people have signed up to claim Universal Credit in the last fortnight, as the scale of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak begins to become clear. 

In an unprecedented surge, around 950,000 successful new claimants – more than one and a half times the number of people living in Liverpool, England’s third largest city, have asked for the allowance.

The rise in new welfare claimants between March 16 and 31 is up almost ten fold – with the normal number of applicants in a two-week period standing at roughly 100,000.

Businesses are struggling to survive the Covid-19 crisis despite a government pledge to do ‘whatever it takes’ to bail out struggling companies.

A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce found that around 44% of companies have said at least half of their staff will be paid through the ‘furlough’ scheme, which sees the government pay 80% of wages in an effort to reduce job losses.

Another third plan to furlough 75% to 100% of staff in the next week, while a fifth of companies have temporarily closed, the survey said. 

Applications for Universal Credit soared after the Prime Minister announced a lockdown to stop the virus’ spread.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman insisted the rise does not mean there has been a similar increase in unemployment, since people apply for UC for a variety of reasons.

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